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What Is Anthropology?

Anthropology:The Exploration of Human Diversity

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2 OverviewOverview

– How we originated– How we have changed– How we are changing still

• Anthropology confronts basic questions of human existence and survival

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3 OverviewOverview

– Interested in the whole of the human conditions

• Past, present, and future• Biology• Society• Language• Culture

• Anthropology is holistic

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4 OverviewOverview

– Cultural anthropology—study of human society and culture; describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences

• Four subfields

Archaeology—reconstructs behavior by studying material remains

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5 OverviewOverview

– Linguistic anthropology—descriptive, comparative, and historical study of language and of linguistic similarities and differences in time, space, and society; considers how speech varies with social factors and over time

– Biological anthropology—study human fossils, genetics, and bodily growth and nonhuman primates

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6 Human AdaptabilityHuman Adaptability

• Anthropology—study of human species and its immediate ancestors– Constantly compares customs of one

society with others

Humans among the world’s most adaptable animals

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7 Human AdaptabilityHuman Adaptability

– Society—organized life in groups– Culture—traditions and customs that

govern behavior and beliefs• Distinctly human feature• Transmitted through learning• Not biological, but ability to use culture

rests in hominid biology

• Anthropology

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8 General AnthropologyGeneral Anthropology

– Cultural anthropology– Archaeological anthropology– Biological or physical anthropology– Linguistic anthropology

• Academic discipline of anthropology includes:

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9 General AnthropologyGeneral Anthropology

– Developed in U.S.Early American anthropologists studying native peoples of North America became interested in exploring origins and diversity of the groups

Subdisciplines influence each other

• Four-field approach:

– Subdisciplines share similar goal of exploring variation in time and space to improve understanding of basics of human biology, society, and culture

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10 General AnthropologyGeneral Anthropology

• Sound conclusions about “human nature” cannot be derived from studying a single nation, society, or cultural tradition

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11 General AnthropologyGeneral Anthropology

– Culture key environmental force in determining how human bodies grow and develop

• Biocultural—inclusion and combination (to solve a common problem) of biological and cultural perspectives and approaches

• Cultural Forces Shape Human Biology

This is one of anthropology’s hallmarks

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12 General AnthropologyGeneral Anthropology

– Brazilian women avoid competitive swimming because of that sport’s effects on the body

• Cultural standards of attractiveness and propriety influence participation and achievement in sports

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13The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology

– Ethnography—Fieldwork in a particular culture; provides account of that community, society, or culture

Cultures not isolated from local, regional, national, and global systems of politics, economics, and information that expose villagers to external influences

• Cultural Anthropology—describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences

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14The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology

– Ethnology—cross cultural comparison; the comparative study of ethnographic data, of society and of culture

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15The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology• Ethnography and Ethnology—Two

Dimensions of Cultural Anthropology• Insert Table 1.2

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16The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology

– Artifacts (e.g., potsherds, jewelry, and tools)

– Garbage– Burials– Remains of structures

• Archaeological Anthropology—study of human behavior and cultural patterns and process through the culture’s material remains

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17The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology

– Archaeologists use paleoecological studies to establish ecological and subsistence parameters within which given groups lived

• Archaeological Anthropology

Archaeological record provides unique opportunity to look at changes in social complexity over thousands and tens of thousands of years

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18The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology

– Historical archaeology combines archaeological data and textual data to reconstruct historically known groups

• William Rathje’s “garbology” project in Tucson, Arizona

• Archaeologists also study the cultures of historical and living people

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19The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology• Biological Anthropology—study of

human biological variation in time and space

Includes evolution, genetics, growth and development, and primatology

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20The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology

• Primatology

human evolution as revealed by the fossil record

Body’s ability to change as it copes with stresses such as heat, cold, and altitude

study of biology, evolution, behavior, and social life of primates

– Special interests within biological anthropology:• Paleoanthropology• Human genetics• Human growth and

development• Human biological

plasticity

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21The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology• Biological anthropology draws on

biology, zoology, geology, anatomy, physiology, medicine, public health, osteology, and archaeology

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22The Subdisciplines of The Subdisciplines of AnthropologyAnthropology• Linguistic Anthropology—study of

language in its social and cultural context across space and time

Historical linguists—reconstruct ancient languages and study linguistic variation through time

Sociolinguistics—investigates relationships between social and linguistic variation to discover varied perceptions and patterns of thought in different cultures

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23 Applied AnthropologyApplied Anthropology

• Applied Anthropology—application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems

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24 Applied AnthropologyApplied Anthropology

– Theoretical/academic anthropology— includes cultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology

Directed at collecting data to test hypotheses and models created to advance anthropology

• American Anthropological Association (AAA) recognizes two dimensions

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25 Applied AnthropologyApplied Anthropology

– Standard subdivisions include:• Medical anthropology• Environmental anthropology• Forensic anthropology• Development

– Practicing or applied anthropology— application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and techniques to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems

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26 Applied AnthropologyApplied Anthropology

– World Bank– United States Agency for International

Development (USAID)– World Health Organization (WHO)– United Nations

• Applied anthropologists generally employed by international development agencies

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27 Applied AnthropologyApplied Anthropology

– Work with local communities to identify specific social conditions that influence the failure or success of a development project

• Applied Anthropologists:

Development projects often fail when planners ignore cultural dimensions of development

– Assess social and cultural dimensions of economic development

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28Anthropology and Other Anthropology and Other Academic FieldsAcademic Fields

• Anthropology is a science– Systematic field of study or body of

knowledge that aims, through experiment, observation, and deduction, to produce reliable explanations of phenomena, with reference to the material and physical world

• Anthropology links to interdisciplinary collaboration

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29Anthropology and Other Anthropology and Other Academic FieldsAcademic Fields

– Encompasses study of and cross-cultural comparison of languages, texts, philosophies, arts, music, performances, and other forms of creative expression

• Anthropology also a humanity

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30Anthropology and Other Anthropology and Other Academic FieldsAcademic Fields

– Sociologist traditionally used quantitative research, while cultural anthropological used qualitative methodologies

– Anthropology and sociology converging

• Cultural Anthropology and Sociology

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31Anthropology and Other Anthropology and Other Academic FieldsAcademic Fields

– Statements about “human” psychology cannot be based solely on observations made in one society or in a single type of society

– Cultural anthropology (psychological anthropology) studies cross-cultural variation in psychological traits

• Anthropology and Psychology

Anthropology helps us understand ourselves through its cross-cultural perspective